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in cake eater verse, where Aries story takes place, Laura is waaaaaaay conditioned into a killing machine. It's both serious and yet not. I imagine the first time they meet, Laura is sleeping and Aries approaches her curious. She senses him and her training/brainwashing kicks in.

Odd title for a Halo crossover... Only Ravens are qualified to say that

__________________

"You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album.
...But you can be bad at playing a videogame, and the game will punish you and deny you access to the rest of the videogame."

"Gun Wolf is not a prototype, it is a mass production unit, it possess the original's strength and none of it's flaws. Before, Central Command wished for machines that can be produced in mass quantity reliably disregarding it's performance, thus Pack Wolf is born and quickly sent into front line, this result in a disaster"
- The opening of the Operating Manual for Gun Wolf as read by Dan Gotanda

Gun Wolf's audiovisual interface somewhat more complex than I.S. because of the inferior Man-Machine connection. There are two manual, with the digital one is more akin to a video-game tutorial/simulator. (Zone of the Enders style)

And above all, Gun Wolf is military grade combat unit, tank and ship crew ALWAYS have their manual ready despite operating and maintaining it being their second nature.

Needless to say, driving 4 meter suit without knowing the parameter is disastrous. The first time he slammed to a large tree, the second time, he tripped and fell off a cliff.

“You’re being too loud and you scared the hospital staff with that arm”

The youngsters had been forced into seiza position out of habit, but to her ire (and confusion) “We’re sorry”

“Aanyway, sir if you please-” Chifuyu quickly went for the door and welcomed the Doctor and his assistants, who is anxious beyond belief.

And so, he removed his shirt slowly, letting them to examine the result, few question also asked, and they conclude with something.

“In case of infection prevention, we’ll conduct 2 or 3 more days of constant inspection and treatment… however, the way his injury heal, maybe he could even return by tomorrow”

“Thank you very much” Chifuyu bowed, to think that he’s been injured almost mortally…

The girl mumbled something, and then politely asked if she allowed to talk with him a little more as it’s already past visit time. The doctor let her so, so long as they not to create anymore ruckus. Besides, Chifuyu also said something to the doctor about national crisis of some sort; the doctor’s expression turned grim and he excuse himself soon.

“Now, let’s return to the topic” Chifuyu asked sharply to the point “Who are you and where did you get that I.S. from? That aside, where you did get such private information from?”

Ichika can’t help but wanted to put a palm on his face, after gulped his annoyance, he replied.

“Ichika Orimura, 15, Class 1-A Student of Infinite Stratos Academy, this unit, ByakuShiki is a test type rolled out by Kuromachi Machinery Development…” he stated expressionless “Alas, it’s seems that I lost both Yukihira for some reason, but Reiryaku Byakuya remains untouched”

“Did you say Yukihira…?”

When he summoned his weapon, all he had is a saber-shaped lump of metal.

“… Seems like after all I’m a fake eh…”

“Hey, but what you just said now”

She gasped in realization, is he implying he’s a stalker or something? But… well, she don’t understand, what happened? He’s so cheerful just now and yet…

“So you do realize that there’s nothing you could use to prove that you’re Ichika”

“I learned to accept that sometimes this world is cruel enough to hide the truth” he said calmly, with a sad smile “If you cannot recognize me, then neither my friends. Better safe than sorry”

What? Ichika the girl clenched her hand tightly, tugged her skirt as the result.

“You shouldn’t play mind games with adult; you won’t be able to win”

“Chifuyu-n-“ Chifuyu raised her hand before her sister can barge in, stopping her before more words spilled out.

“Listen, I don’t know what happened, but if there’s anyone can do this it’s someone that knew about us since long ago, or maybe it’s just plain conspiracy. Like you said, this world is not kind, all I can do is to trust or not trust your confession, that’s about it?”

“Yes”

“Then you have all the time to think” Chifuyu told him “I have contacted the Government and sooner or later they’ll send PSIA as first response unit”

“PSIA? Are you kidding?” the girl half screamed, but then she realized her mistake “Sorry, I’ll be quiet”

PSIA, Public Security Intelligence Agency. Not much featured or known by most people, but let’s say they’re the equivalent of more well known CIA. Like the name implies, they handle anything that’s gravely matter to public or national security. That includes handling and protecting important figures.

The woman simply poked her forehead and smirked amusingly “Think a little, idiot, you and him are on the whole different level this time”

With that, the woman left ambiguously, leaving a lot of question especially the reason why it’s PSIA and not I.S.A. personnel that is mobilized.

In the end, it was Chifuyu who saved her; could it be that… he remembers the same thing? If he’s lying or pretending, why he eyes look so distant despite they’re so close? Is that because no one recognizes him?

He rested his head on the pillow, using it to muffle his scream. “AAAAGH!! This is stupid; maybe I’ll end in the lab somewhere being dissected.”

And then it clicked.

He is a male.

Male cannot use I.S.

He not only using one, but he also have a personal unit to boot.

He might be as well a walking, living, and breathing nuclear bomb that can explode anytime.

Spoiler for Test Draft 05:

“I assume that PSIA will treat me as hostile as now, is that right?”

“Depends, especially that you’re armed with something potentially dangerous than nuclear warhead… but first thing first, tell me the number of your core”

“001, tough luck; did you-”

Before he could say anything, she cut him off

“Okay, hand me that and government will be unable to do anything openly, 001 is privately owned” she said to him, no kidding.

He looked at her intently, so close that it almost like he want to kiss her. Her determined gaze is unshaken by his glare, and he decided that “Between my sister and government, you know the answer” and he handed her his gauntlet.

They know it’s reckless, but that’s the way Ichika Orimura rolls.
________________________________________

Chifuyu bit her lips as she read the medical report she received, specifically the genetic correspondence.

Though she felt a little guilty, it was strictly necessary. The moment she arrived in hospital as her sister called, she saw him. His face, it was a familiar sight, and yet different. And with him possessing an I.S., more question appeared.

Her best guess, he got that unit from Tabane. And Tabane don’t care anything other than Chifuyu or her own family members.

So she made a gamble, and signed the necessary inform consent for genetic checkup.

It took effort for her not to crumple the paper as she sighed. His overall genetic matchup is 50%, and skewed further due to gender bias.

With the advancement of medical technology, even before I.S. born, preservation of usable genetic sample that can last for years is possible… however, chances that he’s born in an artificial womb is quite implausible because…

That boy shared exact same maternal genetic code with Ichika, which means they’re originated from exact same ovum, possibly because the ovum split, in other words: semi-identical twins.

Chifuyu frequently went with her mother to the gynecologist, and her mother’s pregnancy is quite normal. Ichika's factual twin sister is not even identical to her.

The only plausible explanation is that her mother gave birth to a triplet, and don’t say anything about it, having this guy stranded somewhere, raised or conditioned to believe that he’s the real Ichika Orimura by people who constantly stalked her family for years for information, and somehow get their hand on an I.S. as well.

And if Chifuyu had to be honest, that explanation is extremely contrived on its own. Chifuyu’s life is full of conspiracy, but this scenario is plain ridiculous. Ichika’s never been that important or well known to public until her kidnapping years ago, which forced Chifuyu to drop her chance to become the winner of second Mondo Grosso.

Maybe this guy is related to those people who tried to kidnap Ichika back then?

The more she thought about it the more headaches she got.

Her self-tormenting, brainstorming session is ended when a couple of PSIA agents approached her and politely greeted her and gave a salute, she replied as proper.

“We will determine what to do next, but don’t worry, we aren’t curious enough to gamble with the safety of this miraculous discovery” smugly the agent noted.

Chifuyu deliver a witty, sharp remark after that “Which one? A male I.S. pilot or a free I.S. core?”

Some of the member is taken aback, but the agent who spoke with her had his relaxed expression relatively unchanged. “Both, actually… though if your sister’s testimony about it having the same signature as Core 001 is right, well, that will be problematic to us”

He is na´ve enough to give this billion dollars -but practically priceless and irreplaceable- weapon of mass destruction quite easily, if the people behind him has any plan, it’s a very idiotic plan.

Chifuyu rubbed her temple again, the headache is getting worse until her sister finally walk out of the hospital, carrying an armored briefcase chained to her free wrist.

“Chifuyu-nee…”

“Handing his I.S. like candy to a stranger, just what the hell that idiot is thinking?”

Ichika smiled at her widely “He said: Between my sister and government, you know the answer”

Sure thing Chifuyu didn’t expect that answer. However, it also made Chifuyu the location of her weak point.

She smirked confidently as she mentally swore she’ll put a stronger defense.

[/QUOTE]

Spoiler for Test Draft 06:

And like the doctor said, he was eligible to leave after two days passed, injuries healed flawlessly. The government agents made sure he left the hospital unnoticed, and as far as security breach concerned, it’s seems that the rumor just started to spread at small scale.

So they decided to carry their orders as fast as possible.

Ichika is brought into a massive facility, to be exact; it was Cadet Representative training facility. The building itself is built so sturdy that theoretically can be used as wartime fortress.

“Kid, never a moment I think I’ll brought a guy to this place, f you know what I mean” the agent assigned to escort him winked.

The inside is not much outside his expectation too, large main hallway and heavily guarded receptionist, sorry, security check welcomed their arrival.

Ichika then immediately brought into main facilities, which is located underground, with several people waiting for him inside conference room. From the way they dressed, Ichika has very little doubt that they’re all important person, possibly the most important people in Japan, in fact. Amongst them, he even saw current Prime Minister of Japan, off all people.

There’s also the Chief Engineer that lead the team that developed ByakuShiki, though Ichika doubt he’d recognize him.

To be honest, this kind of feeling is new, since he’s shipped almost immediately to I.S.A. back when… well; he accidentally participated in the entry exam for I.S. Academy. Not like he had any chance though, Chifuyu demand it or else no protection guaranteed.

Under the bright lightning, the situation is quite ominous, and the air felt like several times heavier.

“Calm down buddy, act like you should act” the agent whispered, as he gently pushed the boy to sit on the assigned chair. For a specific reason, multiple sensor and cables is placed around his body, especially around major arteries, eyes, and head.

Directly facing him is a man dressed sharply in dark blue business suit, like a lawyer. Ichika recognized him as the head investigator of PSIA team that has been assigned to handle his case.

“So… Orimura Ichika-kun”

“Hai”

“We have searched throughout all kind of record about your identity, including the possibility that you are born as twin brother of the real Orimura Ichika”

He’s still treated as pretender, but at least they did it out of necessity, he thought. He had seen the result of his gene test, and it confirmed that he is Chifuyu’s little brother.

“However, testimonies and legal documents all pointed that this scenario is not true, so, how about you tell us what you remember”

It’s a request, not a question.

“My earliest memories began at the age of five, our parents left us before I can remember anything, and I’ve been raised by my older sister, Orimura Chifuyu since then. As for my birth, nothing out of ordinary, at least my sister claimed so”

Neither cardiograph, corneal, not even cerebral sensor indicated that his words are lie, at least, on his own personal part. The operator even mused something, before continuing the operation.

“I am not affiliated to any organization, except Infinite Stratos Academy as a student, and Kuromachi Machinery Development for their test unit [ByakuShiki]”

The murmurs come even louder.

“[ByakuShiki] is supposed to be third generation I.S. that utilize [One-Off Ability] from the start, rather than relying on experimental [Image Interface Weapon]. For unknown or maybe never mentioned reason, [ByakuShiki] shared the same OOA as [KureZakura]”

“How about that?” the investigator asked.

“Correct so far” the man from Kuromachi Ltd. Confirmed “Indeed, his unit also has the core with exact numbering of 001, however as failsafe measure, core network rejected it”

The holographic projection that appear in front of the participant all highlight the point where both core have exact same header signature.

As the two cores are almost exactly similar in everything, one become dominant over the other and the rest simply blocked its access: exactly similar to how a network will treat an illegal entry.

This brought even bigger question, as no I.S. core shared similar header like this, as each of them are, to put it simply, hand crafted by none other than Shinonono Tabane herself.

Adding the fact that Core 001 itself is fairly unique, because it’s given personally to Orimura Chifuyu, the same as Core 468 is given to Shinonono Houki.

“However, we found the design of this machine is quite unique as well” the man continued as more images projected “This is the overall design of his unit, as you can see”

A larger image is shown, comparing the blueprint of his [ByakuShiki] and the other [ByakuShiki]. Ichika himself examined intently.

Unlike his unit, the other one is seamlessly blended much like typical power armor in fiction or real life, both the arms and leg armor are fairly reasonable, all in all, it look a lot less ridiculously contrasted as the pilot –the other Ichika- safely integrated.

“This machine, as you see, is comparatively larger, about twice as heavy in overall mass. There are extension systems on the legs and arms which mimic, or rather, entirely replaced the pilot’s own finger and toes. The extension on the leg in particular added roughly 50 cm to the pilot’s height. So, Orimura-kun, do you have any opinion about this?”

Ichika replied “I honestly don’t know, however, if I had to say it’s because I.S. weapon is about twice and a half as large as human counterpart, thus the enlarged humanoid manipulator. In case of the extended leg, it’s used either for surface mobility system and suspension, or additional rocket booster”

The focus then given to his sword, which fit his statement perfectly: the sword is easily as long as the female pilot is tall, roughly 165 cm. Its handle is quite thick and while it would be possible to be held by human hands, it’ll be very uncomfortable.

And like Ichika claimed, the leg do contain sturdy-looking linear shock breaker and apparently, the explanation given the pair of blade mounted on its horse-feet like heel as reinforced skating equipment, generating a powerful field that reduce the friction with the surface.

One of the participant, which Ichika recognized as one of I.S.A.'s combat instructor, asked quite politely as she twirled her bleached curly hair “Ano, Orimura-kun. From what I can gather, you didn’t receive training or education as Personal I.S. pilot, right?”

Ichika stunned on that, because the answer is yes, he didn’t.

“My entry to I.S.A. itself is quite accidental”

Then he began to tell them everything, when he lost in the city hall, and accidentally enrolled with the exam much to everyone surprise. Ichika was sent straight to I.S.A. soon after and receive ByakuShiki as personal unit, he also fought with British Cadet Rep, Cecilia Alcott, in his first sortie in his unit.

“That’s quite… unbelievable” Prime Minister could not contain his anxious feeling, all of it sounded ridiculous.

“I have no other proof other than my I.S. and the data within its black box” Ichika bigheartedly smiled, one of the stuff he learned that so far no one can manipulate the data in the I.S. black box except Tabane herself.

The Black Box contains every report up to the detail of every sortie and battle.

Reinforcing the control once again, the Investigator smugly smiled, something that made Ichika shiver. “In any case… we have only one answer for this… there’s only one person that could theoretically manipulate each and every single piece of information I.S., Shinonono Tabane”

Ichika bit his lift as he began to lose his patience, at least until his assigned bodyguard tap his head, he took a deep breath.

“I have no other answer than that, the last time we met is when she delivered [AkaTsubaki] to her sister”

“But YOU aren’t there, there’s only her, the REAL Orimura Ichika”

Ichika stay silent, and his sensor hasn’t detect anything that could prove that he is lying, not even remotely. Still, he’s pissed that after all the little hope, he’s really unrecognizable.

He of course, has the final trump card, that even he felt is a little excessive, but really, did he have another option?

“Having no real identity and carrying illegal Weapon of Mass Destruction, it’s safe to say that your very presence can and will jeopardize Japan's National Security. What stopped us from arresting you for act of terrorism?”

“Attempted suicide?” the boy nonchalantly replied.

Every single person there had lose their cool the very instant he spoke that, in a very much neutral manner, to boot. It was Prime Minister that had it worst; as his palm met the table soundly “You can’t be serious!”

“Well, think again, Ladies and gentlemen. Imagine yourself as 15 years old freshman, suddenly losing virtually all of your beloved, no one recognize you, and you’re treated as class 1 international criminal. What stopping YOU from the thought of suicide? Optimism? Empty hope?”

“And what stopped you?” the questioner raised his voice as if he challenged Ichika's patience on purpose.

“The fact that I’m not shipped to a hidden lab to be a used guinea pig or research sample, YET. YOU know and I know that anyone with XY chromosome cannot use I.S., I CAN. As far as I can remember, the only thing stopped that from happening is that Japan will lose their one and only one unique LIVING asset, SIR”

Ichika’s breath is erratic, his face is almost literally burning with rage and his eyes, well, and his naturally scarlet eyes did not help at all. The analyst staff monitoring his lie detector began to panic because of the odd reading, not to mention, Ichika’s outburst made some of the sensor detached from his body

The investigator clenched his teeth in response, but has nothing else to say.

His escort agent can’t help but pitied the boy; he tried his hardest to endure such a huge pressure, and he finally snapped, before the rest of security act to restrain him he pushed Ichika back to his chair “You did it well, son, that’s enough for now”

“The last thing I wish is to be robbed out of my freedom. Please pardon my insolence”

The subsequent discussion is a lot more civilized, because everyone trying their hardest to get along with a na´ve teenager, not to say they don’t project their authority over him however, but Ichika responded with far more respect against non-aggressive questioner.

All in all, Ichika had earned their favor at last. He is however, frightened that he never once thought how much influence he can bring… because Chifuyu always protect him from outside interference.

How he could be so powerful and meaningless at the same time, he never thought.

“It’s the same with Gospel…” Ichika mentally noted as he left the room “When I fail to lay my strength and compare it to my foes to create an effective battle plan, the result is always failure”

His sister always and always hammering it to his head: “Use your head. Use your head. Use your head”. No, it’s not about headbutting the enemy to submission; it’s about she's telling Ichika THINK a little.

With no one supporting him, Ichika is forced to think on his own, and he just knew the result is either spectacular or disastrous.

Would it make sense that abandoning someone with their personal unit will force them to learn to take care of it?

__________________

"You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album.
...But you can be bad at playing a videogame, and the game will punish you and deny you access to the rest of the videogame."

Would it make sense that abandoning someone with their personal unit will force them to learn to take care of it?

Normally (Ichika and Houki are exceptions), all assigned pilot ARE capable of maintaining and tuning their own unit to it's best performance, ensuring stable unit growth. Maintaining and tuning is virtually free task, like software debugging.

The only thing they can't do by their own is modify the unit, and that' only because the workhours required is too much hassle, not to mention restriction by the unit's true owner that outright prevent that (including the required resources).

aren't the pilots only able to work on minor tuning? More complicated stuff seems to be left to the techs. I'm not even talking about parts replacement. Analysis that is left unsupported by AI is one task I'm thinking. But overall the IS does seem to take care of itself doesn't it?

aren't the pilots only able to work on minor tuning? More complicated stuff seems to be left to the techs. I'm not even talking about parts replacement. Analysis that is left unsupported by AI is one task I'm thinking. But overall the IS does seem to take care of itself doesn't it?

I.S. develop like self-improving computer program, there WILL be minor bugs here and there. This is put on emphasis in V7 during Kanzashi arc, where ByakuShiki's setting is far form optimum due to it's rapid development and Ichika simply has no clue how to fix it until Tatenashi intervenes.

Indeed, major tuning requires techies because once again, it's complex and time consuming when done alone. But if the pilot regularly check it's development frequently, they will literally require nothing else since the minor bugs are fixed rather than piling up overtime.

1. About the booster inefficiency, the timing of ignition and fuel spraying is mismatched. Byakushiki's propulsion apparently pulse jet type rather than continuous turbine/rocket.

2. Setsura's energy cannon, whose difference between input and output is too staggering. Become especially important when Kanzashi asked HIS data and he gave TATE's more well adjusted data instead, Kanzashi become suspicious as the result and really angry when she found out that her sister helped her all along.

Quote:

Originally Posted by demino_hellsin

I thought it was simple due to AI assist. So it's kind of like regular clean-up... huh.

I can be wrong though, I only read parts of the novel for the tech relevance, not entire book.

"You cannot be bad at watching a movie. You cannot be bad at listening to an album.
...But you can be bad at playing a videogame, and the game will punish you and deny you access to the rest of the videogame."